A big day for us yesterday with a crew screening of the finished film held at the National Film Theatre. Lupus Films is immensely proud of each and everyone one of you who contributed to making Ethel and Ernest the movie a reality. More photos here.

The next screening will be a public one – the premiere ! Watch this space for further news.

Some of the crew at the post screening party held at the National Film Theatre – August 3rd 2016. A night to remember ! (Photo courtesy of Amandine Gutierrez.)

Among the many top animators working on Ethel and Ernest was Sarah Airiess. Sarah’s animation and posing opens the film, and she also animated the whole of the Christmas decoration sequence that is depicted on page 50 of the book.

Working from her home in Cambridge she always produced scenes full of wit, charm and brilliant observation. She has produced some stand out sequences for us.

Watch out for some great comedy scenes in Ethel and Ernest courtesy of top animator Laurent Kircher. Ernest dismantling the old cooking range, which is on page 16 of the book, is one of Laurent’s sequences.

He also animated the ‘outside the ballroom’ sequence which is one section that has been invented for the film and was not in Raymond Briggs’ book .

Laurent also animated the Ernest on his bike shots for the key moment in the film when Ethel and Ernest first meet (page 3 and 4 of the book).

Raymond Briggs was filmed today for the ‘making of’ documentary that will accompany the release of the Ethel and Ernest film.

Jess Bassett, the director of the ‘Making of…’ documentary, is seen here filming Raymond as he looks through one of his unpublished books ‘Into the Dangerous World’

Raymond Briggs with Camilla Deakin, the producer of Ethel and Ernest, during the shooting of the documentary.

The front cover of Raymond Briggs’ as yet unpublished book ‘Into the Dangerous World’. It was a particularly interesting discovery for us as it features a child’s eye view of the house in south west London where Raymond grew up. The same house of course that is the setting for Ethel and Ernest.

Lupus films has opened up new studio space off Holloway road in North London, about 10 minutes from its main studio. Isobel Stenhouse, Animation Supervisor, has done a sterling recruiting job to increase both the number of animators and also the number of animator assistants on the production as we head towards our deadline. Using the Creative Skillset scheme recent graduates from animation colleges throughout the UK have joined the crew as assist animators. They do the clean up on an animator’s scene and give the drawings their final line look before they go to be coloured and composited at Cloth Cat studios in Cardiff.

Below are pictures of some of the new recruits who have graduated from animation courses at the following colleges:

Central St Martins; Teeside University; Arts University of Bournemouth; Lincoln University; University of Wolverhampton; University of Westminster; Middlesex University; University of Portsmouth.

Eleven more recruits are due to join the production shortly and the studio will have to expand still further!

Graduates from a number of UK animation courses working on Ethel and Ernest, brought on board with the assistance of the Creative Skillset scheme

More crew have been taken on as the final months of production are upon us. Animator Vincent Petremann pictured below is one of the latest recruits to join us. Lupus Films has also opened up an annexe studio in north London to accommodate the army of clean up artists and assistants that an animated feature film requires.

Animator Vincent Petremann being briefed on his scenes by animation director Peter Dodd